Mark Zahra isn’t often keen to hop on early-season two-year-olds, but the Lindsay Park team is the exception to his rule.
Linking with Ben, Will and J D Hayes, Zahra produced a perfectly timed ride to land Victoria’s first juvenile race of the season—the Listed Maribyrnong Trial (1000m)—with Eurocanto at Flemington.
Settled worse than midfield, the colt peeled wide inside the last 200m and finished strongly, with Eurocanto ($8) grabbing Streisand ($5.50) by a half-head and One Day At A Time ($4) finishing a neck away in third.
“To be honest, I usually don’t like riding two-year-olds too early but when the Hayes’ call, I’ll pick up the phone,” Zahra said.
“They’ll usually identify one that they’re happy with and they want me to trial.
“It is a good process and if I like it them, I’ll stick with it.
“That is what happened with this guy. I trialled him twice and liked him two times and he’s got the job done today.”
The race wasn’t without drama: edgy in the stalls, Eurocanto left Zahra briefly pocketed near the 400m before he navigated a path and let down.
“It is a tough test first-up up the straight over 1000 (metres) and I like to be the last one on the scene,” Zahra said.
“He did that well. He was able to travel up behind them and showed good grit late to win.”
Bought for $250,000 on the Gold Coast, Eurocanto was selected by Lindsay Park’s sales crew headed by Dean Hawthorne and has been on the radar from day one.
“We really liked him, and we’ve had good success with the stallion,” Hayes said.
“He’s an athletic style of horse with plenty of improvement to come and it was good to be able to kick off his career in that fashion.”
By Per Incanto, Eurocanto shares a sire line with Little Brose, winner of the 2023 Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (staged at Sandown that year).
“It was a professional performance,” Hayes said.
“We’ll see how he pulls up and it would be tempting, all systems go, to go to Cup week, but first and foremost we’ll see how he is first thing in the morning.”
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